Four Humours (wasRe: CHAPDISC: HBP5, An Excess of Phlegm

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 144238

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:
>
> 
> >
> >   CHAPTER DISCUSSIONS: 
> >   Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 5,
> >   An Excess of Phlegm
> 
> Juli wrote a very good discussion. I intended to tack this 
question 
> to the end of my reply, but forgot.
> 
> One theroy of health used to be that the body contained four 
Humours. 
> (Phlegm, Blood, Bile and ????)  All four are supposed to be in 
> balance. Certain conditions were thought to be due to an excess of 
> one of the Humours. Does anyone know anything about this? What are 
> the four humours? And what would an excess of phlegm cause?
> 
> I wonder if the name of this chapter has more to do with Tonks 
than 
> with Fleur.
> 
> And why do I have the impression that Snape is suffering from an 
> excess of Bile?
> 
> Potioncat
>

Nice one, Potioncat. Medieval tradition distinguished between yellow 
bile (choler) and black bile, the former responsible for choleric 
temperament, and the latter for melancholic. I'd say Snape is 
suffering from the excess of choler. It would have been fitting if 
Sirius had suffered from the excess of black bile, but I don't 
figure him as melancholic. 
a_svirn